Firman

(submitted by Janet Firman)

Harold Charles (1927–1997) and Janet Adelene (Hawkins) Firman (1926–) moved to the old Robert Janes homestead, part of Lot 14, Con. 3 NER (now Brickyard Line) in 1961. Janet, being the grand-daughter of Robert and Matilda (Baird) Janes, looked forward to her move.

This farm was settled by Charles Meredith Janes in 1856, when he built a one storey log house. Charles died in 1875, leaving a family of nine children. His wife Jennet (Auld) built the large brick house in 1877, using brick from the Janes tile yard. There she farmed, raised and educated her family and bought more land.

Bear Creek crossed a corner of the farm near the road, where there was an old steel bridge. Young men of the community came to swim and dive off the bridge. A large pond on the lawn between the house and the road had been dug out by Robert Janes and a neighbour, Mr. Auld, using teams of horses and slush scrapers in the early 1900s. Over the years the pond filled in with weeds and cattails. In 1964, Ken Matthews Ltd. cleaned out the pond, using a crane. Due to strong springs in the pond, the crane was put on mats to keep it from sliding. There was also an overflow pipe from the pond into Bear Creek.

Janet Firman wearing jewellery and shawl belonging to her great-grandmother. Courtesy P Janes.

The Firman family and friends enjoyed swimming in the pond, where they had built steps into the water, a diving board, sand on the north bank, a large raft and different small boats over the years. Fishing was enjoyed by many, along with catching large turtles. Wild geese, ducks, swans and loons were frequent visitors. During the winter the young people enjoyed skating.

When the Firmans came to the farm in 1961, an old brick slaughterhouse stood behind the house. George Janes, an uncle, had used it for many years. He ran a beef ring slaughtering and delivering beef to customers. Many years before, an old Indian used to come to sharpen knives and make axe handles, etc. He would stay in this building for days and sleep upstairs. When the Firmans demolished the building they found a large cradle upstairs which had been used to rock the Janes children.

The water system on the farm was fed from the strong springs which were contained in an apple barrel in the ground. There was never more than a foot of water in the barrel at any time, but one could water the lawn all day with no trouble. The only problem was when a herd of cattle was turned out all at once to drink from the water tank. The system could not keep up, and so the Firmans installed water bowls in the barn.

In the era before electricity Jennet Auld Janes had a Ram water-raising system installed. This system required a certain amount of water to force or drive water from the well up pipes to the house, to a holding tank. In the basement of the house there was a cistern which held the rain water off the roof of the house.

Robert Janes had apple orchards on the west side of the house and in the fall he did extensive shipping of apples. Janet’s mother, Addie, used to tell about feeding the apple pickers and packers. In 1963 to 1965, the Firmans cut down the orchards.

On May 12, 1974 a tornado cut across the front of the farm, uprooting and destroying many trees. It lifted a large heavy raft out of the pond and carried it over into the flats. It also blew the west gable end of the house in about a foot. After that time, the aluminum windows would bind and were hard to lift or change.

In the 1980s the Firmans built a double garage on the house, a utility room and bathroom downstairs (a three piece bath had been installed upstairs in the 1940s), and remodelled the sun porch. The rest of the house is the original style. Later on, the deteriorating barns were torn down and replaced by a one storey barn.

Harold and Janet had three children, Elizabeth Adelene (1953–), Robert Charles (1955–1987) and Kenneth Harold (1960–). All three attended Warwick Central School. After Watford District High School, Elizabeth achieved a diploma in Food Service Management at the Agriculture and Technology College in Centralia. In 2008 she is Director of Nutrition and Food Services at Bluewater Health. She married Michael Dunlop and they have a daughter Kori. Robert attended Lambton Central Collegiate Vocational Institute (LCCVI) in Petrolia, specializing as a machinist. He married Vickie Morris of Warwick. Their children are Tracy and Robert. Robert died in 1987. Ken also attended LCCVI, graduating as a machinist. Ken married Linda (Beer) Zirk and they have a son Darren.

Janet Firman moved to an apartment in Forest in 2001.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Firman Family

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